Back to search

AAL-Active and Assisted Living Research and Development Programme

4Mvideo E-sport cycling at home for rehabilitation and daily exercise purposes, re-configurated project proposal

Alternative title: 4ME - E-sykling hjemme for rehabilitering og daglig aktivitet

Awarded: NOK 0.34 mill.

The aging process is affected by various factors such as lifestyle, genetics and chronic diseases. In all cases, the aging process entails a gradual reduction in physical functions, with the consequence that activities of daily living can increasingly difficult. However, physical activity can counteract the loss of function by maintaining muscle strength and balance to a greater extent. The challenge is that too few oldder persons follow the public recommendations from the national health authorities to carry out physical activity with moderate intensity for 30 minutes every day. It is important to understand why, in order to motivate and include important support partners, such as family members and friends in this. We know that most seniors prefer a training program that is not too demanding to implement in terms of intencity and competitive elements. For some it is also important that it is not too costly. The 4ME project accomodates these wishes, in parallell with being motivating. The project participants try out a video-based excercise program, which is set up in their home. They get a bike and a tablet, where the tablet is used to play videos that show different environments. That way you get a virtual cycling experience from, for example, Skagen. The participants are 65 years and older and have different life situations: 1) Home-dwelling individuals who are self-reliant and can use a tablet or smartphone, is motivated to be in physical activity to improve muscle strength and general physical shape, but who have limitations in terms of eg dementia, poor balance or arthrosis; 2) Home-dwelling individuals who exercise regularly by bike indoors. The goal is to develop a excercise program that has been scientifically investigated, as well as to develop business models for further roll-out. Furthermore, the goal is also for the participants to have increased quality of life because their physical shape has improved.

Den kliniske utprøvingen er pågående og evaluering av treningsopplegget gjøres når den er ferdig. Oppsett av utstyr er optimalisert gjennom innovasjonsworkshop med brukere.

The purpose of this proposed 4ME project is to initiate activities for Pan-European market deployment of our newly released E-sport cycling platform for seniors – a reminiscence based motivational software and motivational content system (apps for iPad, Web, Video) for exercise at home. The system has been under development for more than 3 years in a PPI project partnership with one of the municipalities of greater Copenhagen, Denmark. The development of functionality, user interface, pricing and delivery models have been engineered in respect for the valuable input co-created with end users of age ranging from 62 to 85+ years and institutional caregivers in the municipality of Gladsaxe. During the development process, the product has been in use at municipality care centers and has been used for rehabilitation purposes for seniors at home. A final version 1.0 targeting both institutional and private consumer markets has recently been released. We are now looking for funding to secure successful deployment. In order to successfully address the institutional markets, we want to establish scientific documentation for the effect of using 4Mvideo. Thus we are proud that renowned scientific capacities have joined the project consortium. Secondly we want to examine cultural barriers and preferences amongst end users in Europe and establish partners for business in the markets with channels to the user segments, forming a stepping stone to an overall go-to-market plan. For this purpose the project will engage with local subcontractors who in addition to the business value represented by the requested services, will be attracted to the potential of a long term 4Mvideo based business opportunities. Thirdly we want to build a community of end users, customers and businesses for long term partnership and co-creation of 4Mvideo version 2.0.

Funding scheme:

AAL-Active and Assisted Living Research and Development Programme